Elliott's Impressive Combine Reminds Us RBs Are Still Worth 1st-Round Picks

Rightly or wrongly, we're in an era when the running back position is devalued.

In the not-so-distant past, two NFL drafts (2013 and 2014) came and went without a single player at the position selected during the first round. And annually, there are free agents who show why paying running backs anything over a modest sum comes with significant risk.

The Philadelphia Eagles' DeMarco Murray provided more fuel for that fire in 2015.

Worse, it seems that for every Todd Gurley, there's a Melvin Gordon.

The former was Herculean during his rookie season with the St. Louis Rams and was named Offensive Rookie of the Year after running for 1,106 yards—following his recovery from a torn ACL.

The latter? Gordon sputtered, averaging only 3.5 yards per carry for the San Diego Chargers. The previous season at Wisconsin, he led the nation with 2,740 yards from scrimmage.

So now in 2016 with the NFL Scouting Combine underway, there's confusion about a new running back class. Gurley restored faith in the position with his brilliance after he was selected with the 10th overall pick in 2015. But hesitancy lingers, with the cautionary tale of Gordon as a top-15 pick still fresh.

You see the gauntlet before Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott then. After back-to-back seasons with 1,800-plus rushing yards and sparkling game film, Elliott has the college resume to be a first-round pick.

Any running back who posted that production during his college career, which included 44 touchdowns, should have concrete standing in the first round.

Elliott largely does, which is why the discussion has shifted to how high he can soar.

Before the 20-year-old took the field Friday in Indianapolis to run, jump and lift, hearing a running back's name in the top half of the first round for the second straight year seemed like a real possibility.

Now we might get another top-10 back.

Elliott needed only 4.47 seconds to run 40 yards. That's remarkably quick considering he stands 6'0" and is carrying 225 pounds.

Game film and on-field production always carry much more evaluation weight than anything that happens at the combine. With that said, it's a platform that allows prospects to solidify their draft position and prove the raw athleticism seen on tape is even more impressive in a format with a level playing field for all.

That's precisely what Elliott did.

His 40-yard dash confirmed he has both the top-end speed to capitalize on the slightest crease and the size to power through contact. He can be versatile and do whatever is asked of him, whether it's bouncing to the outside to stretch a defense or grinding for short yardage on third down.

He has the college experience to immediately be a true three-down back, just as Gurley was for the Rams during his rookie season.

And he can be trusted, too, because as Dane Brugler of CBS Sports noted, Elliott had one of the best fumble rates among running back prospects:

It gets better, because that's what has to happen now for a running back to receive top-10 consideration.

A back can't reach three-down status until he's earned his team's confidence as a pass-blocker. That's the concern any head coach has. In their mind, they're asking this question as a rookie takes his position on third down: If a blitzer breaks through, is my quarterback going to get absolutely creamed?

The answer in regard to Elliott was a resounding "no" every single time. During the 2015 college football regular season, he didn't allow a sack, hit or hurry over 103 pass-blocking attempts, according to Pro Football Focus' Ryan Jenson.

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer had high praise for Elliott beyond just his running ability.

"He's the best player I've ever coached without the ball in his hands. ... He's the best as far as blocking, pass protection and effort down the field," Meyer told NFL Network on Saturday, via Zac Jackson of Pro Football Talk.

There's plenty of reason to have confidence in Elliott's ability to function at a high level right away in the NFL, and he solidified what we already assumed to be true with a fine showing Friday.

For more perspective, his 40-yard dash time can be compared to what Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin did during his combine appearance in 2012. Martin's weight almost mirrored Elliott's bulk, as he checked in at 223 pounds. Yet the NFL's second-best rusher in 2015, who's certainly not short on football speed himself, posted a 40-yard dash time of 4.55 seconds.

Elliott has the athletic skill set to be a first-round pick. That's been firmly established, and now we'll spend another spring waiting to see if a team in need ignores recent history again and takes an early plunge into the running back pool.